Digital BW, The Print

Switching to Digital B&W Printing

One topic to address at the beginning of this forum is some of the 
reasons and benefits of digital B&W printing over conventional 
methods. What follows is a narrative of my own slow drift into 
digital printing.

I come from a background and a deep love of silver gelatin prints. I 
love darkroom work. I am perhaps more of a printer than a 
photographer. I often find myself heading out on a photo-shooting 
exhibition because I need some fresh negatives to work with. This is 
probably an unusual attitude.

So why am I attempting digital printing for my B&W photos? There is 
not really a straight answer to that question. It is a combination of 
circumstances and issues that simmered in my mind over many years.

Back in the late '80 I tried scanning a photo with a cheap Logitech 
hand scanner and printing the image on my then new HP LaserJet II. 
Ugh! doesn't come close to describing the result. I pretty much put 
the idea out of my mind.

About 1993 I was showing my portfolio to a gallery owner and when he 
came to an image of a river rushing just under a fallen tree. 
Unfortunately, there is a small pine seedling on one side of the 
image that intrudes and weakens the composition. The gallery owner 
exclaimed in total exasperation, "Why didn't you break that stupid 
tree off or scan the image into Photoshop and remove it?"

Well I wish the seedling had not been there but, while I will break 
off a small dead branch now and then, I have never felt right about 
hacking off living branches much less entire trees, even small ones. 
The Photoshop comment did stick and made me take a look to see what 
was happening with digital. What I saw at that time was Iris prints 
from places like Nash Editions that we too expensive and did not 
allow me to do it myself. They also looked to have good color but not 
so great B&W. Once again digital went on my mental shelf.

In about 1996 I had an incredible day photographing at Fort 
Churchill, Nevada. By late afternoon and into dusk the light, clouds 
and my eye seemed to hit a real high. I got a lot of great shots. 
Unfortunately I was shooting with a Horseman 4X5 rail camera using 
some excellent Nikor wide-angle lenses. These had terrific coverage 
but in shooting at right angles to the light of the setting sun the 
extra coverage resulted in internal camera flair. A huge number of 
those great shots had light bands on one or both sides of the 
negative.

If you look at Barracks1 in the "Photo" section of this group you can 
see one of the shots. 
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/lst 
It is not real clear at this size and resolution, but you can see 
bands of lighter tonality on both sides of the image.


I could not see anyway to convincingly remove these imperfections in 
the darkroom or by post printing retouching. Once again I started 
thinking about digital and how easy it would be to fix this in the 
computer.

In 1998 I gave digital a serious try using two approaches. I had 
negatives scanned by drum and to Pro Photo CD. I then used Dan 
Burkholder's method to have half-tone contact negatives made and I 
also had files output to film recorders to produce new corrected 
negatives for enlargement. I did not find the half-tone negatives 
satisfying because I could not get a screen that was not visible at 
arms length or closer. The film recorder method also was not workable 
due to the poor quality of the negatives.

I gave up I frustration not because I felt the technology couldn't be 
made to work but because I was having to work through service bureaus 
at great expense. I believe that if I had direct access to the 
equipment I could have produced satisfying negs. I don't have to tell 
you that the cost of the equipment put it entirely out of reach. Once 
again I put the idea of digital B&W prints back on the shelf.

(I would love to get some input here from anyone who is or has used 
film recorders to take a digital photo file back into the darkroom to 
make a print. Ditto for Dan's half-tone contact method. I am sure 
these have improved along with the rapid advances in computer 
technology.)

About this time I was hearing of people using inkjet printers with 
quadratone ink sets to make B&W prints. Unfortunately I also heard 
about some of the difficulties and, already being discouraged over 
the whole issue, I did not pursue it.

Two additional factors finally pushed me into digital B&W printing. 
My day job became much more demanding leaving little time to set up 
my darkroom. For me a reasonable darkroom session lasts 6 to 14 
hours. My production of prints dried to a trickle and then nothing. I 
finally saw an article by George DeWolfe, whose work I admire, 
praising a new ink set and software by Jon Cone called Piezography. 

Check out both
http://www.inkjetmall.com/store/piezographyBW.html and 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/piezography3000 

After some investigation I took the plunge and finally found a way to 
print satisfying B&W images on the desktop. My desire for complete 
control led to some scanner purchases and I now feel pretty self-
sufficient.

Now I can get a print of that "unprintable negative" that resembles 
the image Barracks2, 
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint/lst 
(The posted image is not a scan of a print but is from the print file 
I use.)

I can't tell you what a rush it was to achieve a finished print of 
this shot! The scene was so powerful in my mind when I took the 
picture and has not diminished in the 5 years that passed.

Of course in reality removing the light bands was not at all easy in 
Photoshop! At least not for a novice. It took a lot of trials and I 
still think I could do a better job on the right hand side now that I 
look at it again. But I can find time to work on it! I can put in an 
hour or two, shut down my computer and pick up where I left off the 
day before. I am printing!

Are the prints identical to silver gelatin prints? Very similar to 
matte silver gelatin papers but quite different from the standard air-
dried glossy or smooth silver gelatin prints. There is an adjustment 
period here, if you make the switch. I personally feel that the B&W 
ink jet prints I have seen mostly Piezo (some Iris), have to be 
viewed as a new medium and a beautiful one. They have to be judge on 
their own strength and weaknesses and not necessarily head-to-head 
with silver.

Do I still see room to improve the technology? Absolutely! 
Positively! But if you are out there wondering whether to take the 
plunge, the water's just fine right now so jump on in!

Martin Wesley